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The inhabitants of the following municipalities: Prilep, Krushevo, Makedonski Brod, Bitola, Resen, Ohrid, Struga, Kavadarci and Negotino, who make complaints about the police mistreatment, are entitled to free legal counseling from the Center for Civic Initiative (CCI) – Prilep.
The support initiative for the victims of police mistreatment started on 01.03.2005 when CCI joined the implementation of the Project for human rights support, together with four other NGOs from Skopje, Strumica, Kumanovo and Tetovo. This project is used as a means for focusing the attention on illegal use of means of force by the police officers of the Ministry for Internal Affairs. At the same time equal attention is focused on the development of an effective mechanism for the protection of victims’ rights.
Trough this project the filed cases of police mistreatment are followed by:
- Effective investigation carried out by the entitled state organs
- The police officers will be adequately sanctioned when cases of violation of the human rights and freedoms are confirmed (in one case the Court in Prilep reached the verdict where the police officer was sentenced to 6 mounts in prison for police abuse; a disciplinary measure, such as decrease in salary, was also imposed on him.
The development of the control systems for the work of the police officers, doesn’t mean mistrust and assault over the police system, but an imperative of every democratic society that aspires toward development of the concept of human rights and rule of law. Because of that, in the cases of mistreatment of the police officers, the citizens can file written submission to the Sector for Internal control and professional standards, which overtakes the investigation, as well as reporting about the results of the investigation to the applicant.
The public defender, as an independent, professional, and expert institution, uses all these authorizations in the cases of illegal police behavior. Mostly its intervention is writing a letter to the Sector and waiting for response.
The Public prosecutor and the courts are in charge of resolving the cases of illegal police mistreatment.
The experiences of the public prosecutors regarding the gathering of evidence in the cases of police mistreatment, point out that the cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs is satisfactory because on the filed requests for needed data and reports the response is complete and in reasonable deadline, which contributes for normal development and progress of the process.
Aiming at strengthening the previously established cooperation between the Center for Civic Initiative and the abovementioned state institutions that receive files for possible violation of human rights through misuse of the police authorizations, local coordinative meetings were organized. Apart from building joint strategy for the registered cases, the meetings are used as a means for increasing the trust of the citizens towards the state institutions.
During the implementation of the project, this initiative is being promoted trough info-campaign, realized among high schools students as well as among the members of the NGOs on the territory of 9 municipalities where CCI works. This approach contributed to encouraging the citizens to report the cases of police violence, requesting for free help from the CCI legal advisor.
The project for human rights support will continue its implementation in the year 2009, trough protection and promotion of the human rights, as well as awareness rising of the citizens in the cases when their rights are violated by the police officers.
The project is being implemented in the period 01.03.2005 – 31.12.2009, and this year is financed by UNVFVT and the Foundation Institute Open Society.
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